I have trained a lot in Muay Thai, but not san shou, though I have sparred with many san shou fighters. Muay thai awesome, but I think because of how much kicks are used, it might not be as suited for MMA as san shou. In fact, in MMA sparring, I find I can't kick as much unless the opponent really wants to bang, otherwise: bam! takedown.

I agree with Omega in that the san shou fighters generally have better hands. Possibly because the likelihood of getting taken down makes them sit lower in their stance and punch more.

This compends completely on the fighter. western muay thai especially tend to reply primarily on their hands. In thailand kicks score a lot more then punches so they're more common.

I've trained both Muay Thai and San Shou. I'm better suited to San Shou, I don't know why. After saying that though I like the fact that Muay Thai toughens their fighters up better than most San Shou fighters.

this iz an important point..:director:

" If one wants to have a friend one must also want to wage war for him: and to wage war one must be capable of being an enemy." - Fr. Nietzsche 'On The Friend' Thus Spake Zarathustra

This compends completely on the fighter. western muay thai especially tend to reply primarily on their hands. In thailand kicks score a lot more then punches so they're more common.

This is definitely the case in Australia and why a lot of our fighters have had great success against the Thai. Our training time is usually boxing > leg checks > kicking at the amateur level. Kicks are definitely important but over here there is a huge emphasis on hand skills.

Punching is always better then kicking,it makes it easier to hit the target that hurts the worst, it expends less energy and it can be done almost twice as fast.

I don't know if I would agree with that, the bit about punching being better, specifically. Kicks generate a lot more power and in Kickboxing matches they hurt a lot more because your shins aren't covered by 12 ounces of padding. If you can score a clean, hard headkick chances are you will knock your opponent out. Although I guess the same could be said for a right cross.

Last edited by Anna Kovacs; 6/18/2008 1:29pm at .

Originally Posted by Goju - joe

being a dick with skill is only marginally better than being a dick without skill.